A large and growing population of users enjoys entertainment through the consumption of media items, including electronic media, such as electronic books (also referred to herein as ebooks), electronic newspapers, electronic magazines and other electronic reading material. Users employ various electronic devices to consume such publications. Among these electronic devices are electronic book readers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, portable media players, tablet computers, electronic pads, netbooks, desktop computers, notebook computers and the like.
These electronic devices (e.g., user devices) often use wireless communication networks, wired communication networks (e.g., Ethernet networks) or other networks to download or upload digital media items. In addition, applications (e.g., streaming video applications, online banking applications, social network applications, browsers, email applications, etc.) may also user the communication networks to transmit or receive data (e.g., may receive email or may watch streaming videos using the wireless communication networks). The wireless communication networks or systems may be cellular (e.g., wireless wide area networks) such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) networks, Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) networks, etc. The wireless communication networks may also include WiFi (e.g., wireless local area networks) such as 802.11g networks, 802.11n network, etc. Some wireless communication networks may use multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication protocols (e.g., LTE networks, LTE Advanced networks, WiMAX networks, 802.11n networks, 802.11ac networks, etc.).
An electronic device will often display a signal strength indicator within the display of the electronic device. The signal strength indicator may be a graphical representation of the strength of a radio signal received from a wireless communication network. For example, a smart phone (or cellular phone) may display “signal bars” in the upper portion of a screen to indicate the strength of radio signals received from an LTE or an HSPA+ network. In another example, a tablet or an electronic reader may display signal bars to indicate the strength of radio signals received from an 802.11n network.